Alaska, constituent state of the United States of America. It was admitted to the union as the 49th state on January 3, 1959. Alaska lies at the extreme northwest of the North American continent and is the largest peninsula in the Western Hemisphere. (Because the 180th meridian passes through the state’s Aleutian Islands, Alaska’s westernmost portion is in the Eastern Hemisphere. Thus, technically, Alaska is in both the Western and Eastern hemispheres.) Alaska is bounded by the Beaufort Sea and the Arctic Ocean to the north; Canada’s Yukon territory and British Columbia province to the east; the Gulf of Alaska ... (100 of 9,666 words)